


The Open Secret

by brokenmimir



Series: Swan Queen Week Summer 2016 [8]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Swan Queen Week Summer 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 19:43:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7770553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenmimir/pseuds/brokenmimir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Swan Queen Week Summer 2016, Prompt 8: Coming Out<br/>The whole town knew, despite Emma and Regina never telling anyone.  Well, almost the whole town.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Open Secret

They had never actually told anyone that they were dating.

Henry was the first the first to find out, and it required many comic books and trips out for ice cream before he stopped claiming to be traumatized. It didn’t help that they were half naked while making out in the kitchen when he came home from school, but compared to others, he got off quite lightly.

The second person to find out was Granny, although Ruby was a close third. They had decided to spend a private evening away from the house and Henry without considering the superior senses of the werewolves that own the only available hotel.

Humorously, it was actually Archie that found out next. He was out walking his dog when he saw Emma pressed to a tree with her hands up Regina’s blouse. The only one present who wasn’t embarrassed was Pongo.

Other people were even less fortunate. Emma’s father looked like he was going to cry when he found them in flagrante in the middle of the sheriff's office during lunch. Handcuffs were involved. Emma and her dad couldn’t look each other in the eye for weeks afterward.

Eventually it seemed like the couple came to enjoy getting caught in the act. Belle found them pressed against a shelf in the library. Hook finally gave up perusing Emma when he found them on the beach one night. Regina actually had to chase him away with magic, as he had decided to stick around after finding them.

The last person to know, of course, was Snow. She had walked in on them in the immediate aftermath, or shortly before the act itself, but never quite put two and two together. By that point basically everyone in town knew, having seen them together on dates (or in more intimate ways which would’ve gotten anyone else arrested), but somehow Snow remained completely ignorant.

When Snow began to imply that Emma should try dating again, she got strange looks. She was confused when all of her attempts to set Emma up on a date were politely decline by all of the men she approached (who were all unwilling to cross the Evil Queen, no matter how domestic she had been acting). When she finally approached her daughter about her lack of dating Emma finally realized that they needed to tell someone.

“This is a terrible idea,” Regina huffed.

“Look, she needs to know,” Emma said, rolling her eyes.

“We could just let her find out the same way everyone else did,” Regina said.

“What, have her walk in on us in the act?”

“Hmm,” Regina murmured. “Perhaps not that far, but I’m sure she’d figure it out if she saw us on a date.”

“Like the time we tried that rat restaurant and she said it was wonderful that we were ‘getting along’,” Emma asked.

“Remy is a very skilled chef,” Regina said. “His previous existence as a rat doesn’t invalidate his cooking skill.”

“She still didn’t figure it out when we were sharing a candle lit french dinner,” Emma said. “She also didn’t figure it out when I moved in with you, or when she ran into us holding hands while shopping, or when she couldn’t figure out where my bedroom was at the manor, or-”

Regina sighed. “Fine. She isn’t going to figure it out on her own. I still don’t see why we have to tell her.”

“Tell me what?” Snow asked as she came in, a happy smile on her face. “Hello, Emma, Regina.”

“Hey, mom,” Emma said.

“Snow.”

“So, tell me what?” she asked as she sat down across from them.

“Mom, Regina and I, um, we’re together,” Emma fumbled.

“I can see that,” Snow said. “So what do the two of you need to tell me?”

“No, I mean, we’re together, together.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Well, we, um, we’re living together? As in, we’re together, together?”

“I know, I helped you move in,” Snow said.

“Look, Snow, what you’re daughter is failing to say is that we are in a romantic relationship.”

Her eyes lit up. “Oh! You’re both dating.”

Emma breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, I was afraid you’d be more upset.”

“Of course not,” Snow said. “I’m so happy for you both.”

“I’m surprised you’re taking this so well,” Regina said. “Thank you, Snow.”

“You know I’m all about true love,” Snow said, as she stood up and headed to the kitchen. “Would you like some hot chocolate?”

“Sure, with cinnamon,” Emma said.

Snow bustled about for a moment, preparing the hot chocolate. “So, when are you going to introduce me the men you’re dating...”

Her voice trailed off as she turned around, her jaw dropping as she caught her daughter and former nemesis locked in a passionate kiss. She took the sight worse than the others, her eyes rolling back into her head as she collapsed to the ground in a dead faint.

“Oh,” Emma said. “I guess she didn’t take it so well after all.”

“Hmm,” Regina murmured. “All these years and just when I don’t want to anymore I manage to finish her off...”

 


End file.
